Force on Force test game/Progress at a standstill

My friend James came over this weekend, and after a night of drinking Coke and watching "The Dictator", this morning James recommended we try Force on Force. This is my first Force on Force game in a while (I tried it with Brody, and things went over smoothly), but it's also my first "game" in the Yugoslav Wars era.

The usual table setup. Let's call it, "Foograd"

James's Croats. He's lucky, because he gets Chuckov Norrisavic. Maybe he will get another defense die...

My Bosnians.

Turn 1: James

James sneakily disperses throughout the town. Yes, there is the Challenger in the background, but he won't be using that in this game.

Turn 2: Me

I begin to advance on the town of Foograd. 

Turn 3: James

James moves one of his guys up onto the roof of a house. And takes a shot at my squad. I pass the reaction test and the turn goes as normal. 

Turn 4: Me

I take cover behind a little ridge near a treeline.

James reacts to my movement by attempting to inflict a casualty on one on me, but he fails in doing so.

Turn 5: James

James cleverly moves the same rooftop shooter to a window. He attempts to inflict a casualty on on me.

I react by moving out of the way, and preparing to assault where 2 of James's soldiers, one being Captain Petrovic.

Turn 6: Me

I launch my assault and fire at Captain Petrovic. He obtains a serious wound.

I take control of the building. 

Turn 7: James

James bugs out of the building first chance he gets. Wise choice...

Turn 8: Me

I begin to assault the building where James's "rooftop shooter" is. 

We ended the game after that and ate lunch. This is the first Bosnian-Croat game I've done, let's hope there are more in the future. Stay tuned!

Painted Bosnian/Croatian soldiers with M56 Helmets from Elhiem

While I've been enjoying the 3rd Coldplay album, X&Y (which I got in the mail a few days ago), I've also been painting those Yugoslav Wars soldiers

Really good album, one of their best in my opinion.

Anyway, here's the fireteam as a whole.

Sergeant Helmitavic looking good in his camo.

Corporal Kovac is actually the only "Bosnian" in this fireteam. I painted the Bosnian Fleur-De-Lise on his shoulders and the front of his helmet. The others (aside from the one below) are non-biased and don't have a set side.

This guy is a Croat. If you can see, I've painted the Croatian šahovnica on his helmet (on the other side as well). 

And this guy in full camo.

My Bosnian/Croatian force is up to 8 troops. I should be getting more in the future, so stay tuned!

Status Report (August 8, 2012)

I've [finally] made up my mind on what era I want to cover in Force on Force: The Yugoslav Wars. I did some research about it, and I must say, it is a fascinating and very, almost touchy subject to cover.
The Yugoslav Wars took place from 1991 to about 1999, and was probably Europe's biggest conflict since World War II. It was basically a series of brutal ethnic conflicts and land grabs between Serbs, Croats and Bosnians, and it took place in what was then known as Yugoslavia.
The reason this is a touchy subject is because of what took place in them. What set this war apart from many others was the brutal atrocities that took place on all sides. I'm trying not to get too political here, but the Yugoslav Wars really grabbed my attention.
I did a bit of research on the armies that fought in it, and there was pretty much an army for every ethnicity in Yugoslavia at the time. If you want to read a bit more about it, there's a very fascinating article about them on Wikipedia that sums it up rather well.
In the meantime, I had my friend James over last night, and since fireworks are now legal in the state of Maine, we decided to mess around with some bottle rockets.

I noticed that it actually looks like the tank is firing (James lit it intending that it would blow the tank up and send it sky high, instead it shot off towards my dad's garden and scared the goat).
I will probably be buying some miniatures in the near future for the era, which the miniatures should not be hard to find: Guerrillas with AK-47's, paint on a good coat of M81 Woodland and voila! You've got a soldier during the Yugoslav Wars.
This will probably be a quick project, enough to make a small force to play with, and then I'll probably tuck them away for further use for when the time comes.
Stay tuned!

Force on Force has arrived!

Today Force on Force arrived in the mail, so this afternoon was spent reading it, getting a little confused by the rules, reading it again then realizing it wasn't so confusing after all.

A very nicely laid out book. There's some great artwork in it by Osprey Publishings as well, along with references to miniature websites in the beginning.

I've read you can cover pretty much any post-WWII conflict, and when I heard that I automatically thought of a fictitious Second American Revolution, but I'm having second thoughts partially because I'd have to convert a lot of miniatures to do that.
I started looking to the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and the Indo-Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971 (Elhiem has a line for that). I've done research on both conflicts and I must say they are both quite interesting. However, I think I should just read the book before I jump to conclusions.
Stay tuned!

Force on Force is on it's way!

TToday I ordered Osprey Publishing's "Force on Force" modern wargaming rules.

An interesting fact: this is the first set of wargame rules that I haven't made up on my own!

After talking it over with my good friend James, we'll be gaming in a modern Second American Revolution (or Second American Civil War), which takes place during a military coup d'etat in 2012.
The situation is basically that the U.S. Army along with the support of friendly militias overthrow the U.S. Government (this is purely fictitious, I don't believe this will happen, more like a "what if" scenario). An army called the "American People's Army" forms and begins to fight the U.S. Army across the country from Arizona to New York city. Both sides of the war have civilian militias supporting their causes.
Another thought I had was the Iran-Iraq War, but its starting to lean more towards the Second Revolution. 
I will be picking some miniatures up from Syr Hobbs Wargames sometime in the near future. We're back to 20mm, WOOOO!! I also just noticed that this is my 100th Post. Another hooray for the Basement Wargamer.
Stay tuned!

A "so long" game to Cold War in 20mm (Part 2)...

Last I checked, I was nearing an old building, so let's start off with Dad's turn.

Turn 9: Dad

Dad goes on the offensive, moving small elements of his LMG platoon up to the center of town to maybe re-enforce his  sniper. He also moves up Barrows's force consisting of mainly riflemen. 

Turn 10: Me

The small heroic platoon moves up to the old building, and I move my Light Machine gunner up to the roof.

I plan to attack, but 1 hit does nothing against a sniper!

So it looks like my Light Machine gunner is stuck (and very well screwed) until his next turn.

Turn 11: Dad

Ah... So Dad IS trying to support the sniper, that or do a full-frontal assault on my forces in the town.

"Infiltrate the house!"

Turn 12: Me

A 9. Sad to say that this will probably be the last move I make in 20mm...

I move up 3 of my soldiers, readying for a surprise!

What's this? An armistice!

This was the first and the last battle for the British and American 20mm troops. It was a bloodless battle, so maybe it was more of an exercise but that's not what matters. I'll admit I'm somewhat sad about leaving the whole 20mm thing for maybe WWII or maybe the Cold War in 15mm.

For now, it's to the shelves with my old 20mm miniatures. 

I'll admit I'm a little bit sad to stow them away for now, but then again, the 15mm scale is far cheaper and it takes up far less room.
While it may be "So Long" to 20mm, I'll know they're always on the shelf if I need them.
In a few weeks I may be getting some things from Flames of War/Battlefront, so stay tuned!

A "so long" game to the Cold War in 20mm (Part 1)...

So, today is the day that I officially let go of the Cold War in the 20mm scale.
From now on I will finding another era, and maybe staying in the same scale, or switching over. I am starting to debate whether or not to stick with the Cold War, and maybe experiment with WWII with my birthday coming up and all.
Anyway, me and my dad did a classic Soviets vs. NATO game. I didn't bother choose a location to play in.
Anyway, to the game!

Boogeyville, our battlefield of choice.

Turn 1: Dad

Dad's forces. He's got about a company if you're talking about the 2nd Edition Standoff: Cold War rules.

Even Barrows makes his return for his last hurrah.

Dad rolls an 8 and moves his Russian sniper up. He also decides to move a tank commander up (even though tank commanders really do... nothing).

He positions himself on the roof, still too far away from my troops outside of town.

His (useless) tank commander is on the roof as well now.

Turn 2: Me

I roll a decent 10. Not bad, young grasshopper, not bad. 

I move up elements of my U.S. forces along with a few Brits. I wanted my Yanks and Brits to see some battle before they were officially retired.

Turn 3: Dad

A barely-decent roll of 5.

He pulls a Brody and moves Barrows up into the line of fire. I never thought I'd actually be rooting for Barrows but since this is kind of a special occasion... GO BARROWS GO!!

Turn 4: Me

An almost-maximum roll of 11. Still, not bad.

That results with me moving 2 riflemen (one of them being Miginty) and 1 light machine gunner multiple times up to a little ridge.

Turn 5: Dad

Another somewhat unlucky roll.

Dad moves up his cleverly-organized LMG platoon into the town.

Turn 6: Me

Not a bad roll of 7.

With those 7 I decide to move more infantry up to the little ridge, readying for my assault on the town.  I also elements of my British forces up the right flank to infiltrate Barrows's team.

Turn 7: Dad

Dad's first very good roll.

It's now "full speed ahead" for him and his infantry. They're heading around to my right flank, which is defended primarily by Trained West Germans and Veteran British riflemen. If he does break through, I do hope that they can hold the line!

Turn 8: Me

I continue to move my platoon of infantry up, nearing my Dad's line...